Typewriter



K. D. EVANS TYPEWRITER Filed Nov. 9, 1936 KELLEY 0.

'A'ITORNEYS 4' Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR. [VA/VJ" K. D. EVANS TYPEWRITER Jan. 13,1939.

4 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Nov. 9, 1936 mvizmon. KELLEY Q EVA/VJ m M @W A'ITORNEYJ K. D. EVANS Jan. 3, 1939.

TYPEWRITER Filed Nov. 9, 1956 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 INVENTOR. KELLEY 0. EVA/V6 m, Mm (E d-6 1 5 ATTORNEY 3'.

K. D. EVANS Jan. 3, 1939.

TYPEWRITER Filed Nov. 9, 193a 4 SheetS- Sheet 4 ATTORNEYS.

Patented Jan. 3,1939

UNITED STATES TYPEWBJTEB Kelley D. Evans, Hamilton, Ohio, assignor of onehalf to C. E. Hooven, Hamilton, Ohio Application November 9, 1936, Serial No. 109,966

5 Claims.

1 This invention relates to typewriters, and has for its object to provide improved means for justifying the righthand margin of the typewritten matter.

l Heretofore, so far as I am aware, the righthand margin of the typewritten matter has been justified by varying the spacing between the words in a line, that is to say, by either increasing or decreasing the space between two or more words 10 so that the end of the line will terminate at the desired point. However, this method of justifying is objectionable in the respect that the variation in word spacing is noticeable and therefore the typewritten matter does not have the desired ll neatness.

It is the aim of the present invention to accomplish justiflcation of the righthand margin in a new way which overcom'esthe objection to the present commonly employed method of word spacing.

More particularly it is the object of the present invention to accomplish this result by varying, i. e., increasing or decreasing, the spacing between 25 the characters of a word in a predetermined portion of the line or for a predetermined distance so that the line will terminate at a certain point and will be justified with respect to the'line or lines above it. The variation, i. e., either the increase or the decrease in the space between the typewritten characters, is so slight that the justification is obtained without any apparent variation in the spacing of the characters so that the appearance of the typewritten matter is not in the slightest degree affected.

Briefly considered, I accomplish this result by providing means adjustable at will for increasing or decreasing the spacing or step-byrstep movement which is given'to the carriage. While this can be accomplished in various ways, I prefer to provide a positive carriage moving mechanism ,which is preferably electrically operated, and in that part of the mechanism which causesthe spacing movements to be imparted to the carriage 5 and which is responsive to the depression of the keys of the keyboard or to the spacer bar, I provide ineans for varying the extent of the step-bystep movements for the purpose stated above.

The invention may be, further briefly sum- 5 marized as consisting in certain novel combinations and arrangements of parts and details of construction which will be described in the specification and set forth in the appended claims. In the accompanying sheets of drawings,

Fig. 1 is a transverse sectional view of the machine; l

Fig. 2 is an end view looking toward the-righthand end of the machine when viewed from the operator's position; 5

Fig; 3 is a rear view;

Fig. 4 is an enlarged fragmentary side view of part of the mechanism shown in Fig. 2; and Fig. 5 is an enlarged view of the same viewed from the rear of the machine In the drawings I have not attempted to show all the operative parts of the typewriter as many of the parts may be of usual or standard constuction, as, for example, the main frame, the keyboard, the type bars and the type bar operating connections with the key levers, and the carriage itself, including the shift mechanism and the ribbon mechanism; in fact I have endeavored to omit from the drawings, for the sake of simplicity, details of many of these parts which are not essential to and which per se form no part of the present invention.

Referring now to the drawings, the machine here shown includes a frame ill at the front of which is a keyboard corresponding to the key- 5 board of an ordinary typewriter and including key levers H which move in a comb l2 and are fulcrumed on a rod at the lower rear part of the frame. The machine has type bars I! pivoted as usual on a fulcrum wire for swinging movement in a slotted segment I4, and when the type bar is swung to printing position, it enters the usual center guide indicated at It. As is customary, the type bars are actuated from the key levers by sub-links It. The platenis indicated at IT, but I have not illustrated the carriage which supports the platen as this may be of any suitable construction, as pointed out above. but the carriage frame it will be referred to presently, this carriage frame being transversely movable and, as usual, sliding upon the front rod and on the way rod at the rear of the frame.

I employ the usual universal bar which though operated and mounted in the customary manner controlsin a new way the'step-by-step movements 5 of the carriage both for character and word spacing. This universal bar, which is shown at It, includes an arc-shaped portion which normally lies in a slot at the rear side of the segment I4 and extends rearwardly where it is conbeing provided with an arm 220 which when the spacer bar is depressed is adapted to engage an extension 20a of the rocker arm 20.

Although, as previously stated, the carriage may be moved laterally both for letter and word spac-' ing and also for its return by variously arranged and constructed mechanisms, in this instance I utilize for this purpose a spirally grooved shaft 23 and a follower engaging in the spiral groove,

these parts operating on the principle of a screw and nut one of which is adapted to be rotated and the other movable laterally. In this instance, the spirally grooved shaft 23 is rotated, this shaft being mounted in bearings 24 and there held against lateral movement, these bearings receiving reduced end portions of the shaft and being mounted on the main frame [0 near the upper rear part thereof. The follower. 25 is fixed to the carriage frame at the central rear portion thereof and extends downwardly, being provided at its lower end with a portion which fits into the spiral groove of the shaft 23 so that as the shaft is rotated the carriage is moved laterally, the extent and direction of movement depending upon the extent of rotary movement which is given to the shaft and its direction of rotation. Obviously, if the shaft is given a step-by-step rotary movement in one direction, the carriage will be given a step-' by-step transverse movement for letter and word spacing. Likewise, it will be seen that the shaft may be rotated in the reverse direction for the carriage return. The mechanism for rotating the shaft for the carriage return may be of different forms and actuated either manually by the operator or electrically, as'will be more fully explained later.

I am not here claiming per se thespirallygrooved shaft and the nut or follower for moving the carriage as mechanism of this type constitutes the subject matter of my prior Patent No. 1,769,626,

granted July 1, 1930.

Coming now to the mechanism herein illustrated for giving the step-by-step. rotary movements to the shaft for letter and word spacingand to the important featurev of my invention wherein the extent of these movements may be varied at the will of the operator for justifying the righthand margin of the typewritten matter, I prefer to employ a suitable form of electric motor or motive device for imparting the stepby-step movement to the spirally grooved shaft 23, and although different forms of motors may b-employed, I here show an electrical solenoid 26 (Fig. 2) which is mounted on the righthand end of the main frame III. In this instance, the solenoid includes a core 26a, an energizing coil 12Gb which may be connected to any suitable source of current, such as the ordinary lighting circuit, and an armature or plunger 260. In this instance the armature is arranged to move horizontally and its rear end is connected by a link 21 to an upstanding arm of a bell crank 28 which is rotatably mounted on a pin or stud 29 projecting laterally from the end of the frame I 0. A coil spring .3

j which surrounds the hub of the bell crank is utilized to normally hold the armature 260 in its rearmost or normal position, it being understood that when the solenoid is energizedthe armature is moved forwardly, thereby rocking the bell crank 28 and increasing the tension of the spring 29, but as soon as the solenoid is deenergized, the armature of the solenoid and the bell crank 28 are restored to their normal position shown in Fig. 2. x

The forwardly projecting arm of the bell crank 28 has a pin and slot connection with a vertically movable rack bar 3| which is guided for vertical jspring actuated pawl 35 which is adapted tov engage the teeth of a ratchet wheel 33 which is fixed to the spirally grooved shaft 28.

It will be seen from the above that when the solenoid is energized its armagsure is moved forwardly causing the bell crank to be rocked and the rack bar to be moved downwardly. This rotates the pinion in a counter-clockwise direction as viewed in Figs. 2 and 4, and if the pawl 35 is free to engage the ratchet wheel 36 the spirally grooved shaft will be given an increment of rotary movement in the same direction. The hand or direction of the spiral groove is such that this rotation moves the carriage (through the action of the follower 25) toward the left of the operator, i. e., imparts the movements necessary for character and word spacing. To vary the extent of this movement for the purpose already pointed out, in accordance with the resent invention I vary the effective stroke of the pawl. Preferably I accomplish this by keeping the pawl out vof engagement with a tooth of the ratchet wheel for a predetermined and variable portion of its stroke, the length of the stroke of the pawl being in this instance uniform. For the purpose described above, there is loosely mounted on the shaft 23 between the arm 34 and the ratchet wheel 36, a disk 31 having a laterally projecting portion 31a in the form of an arc-shaped shield which is adjacent and overlies a suitable portion of the toothed periphery of the ratchet wheel 36, the shield being so disposed that the free end or nose of the pawl normally engages this shield which thus keeps the pawl out of engagement with the ratchet, and after a predetermined portion of the stroke of the pawl depending upon the position of the shield the nose of the pawl will ride oif theshield and engage a tooth of the ratchet so that the remainder of the stroke of the pawl is eflective for rotating the ratchet wheel and therefore the spirally grooved shaft 23. In accordance with my invention,I make provision for changing the position of this shieldso as to vary the extent or portion of the stroke of the pawl during which the end thereof engages the shield. For this purpose I pivot on the end of the frame ID a lever 38 which in this instance extends in a substantially horizontal direction above the solenoid 26. The rear end of this lever is connected by a link 39 to the disk 31 which carries the shield while its forward end is held against the lower side of a cam 40 carried by a manually adjustable combined dial and handwheel 4| which is pivoted .on the end of the frame Ill close tv the front thereof so as to be within end of the lever 38 is pressed yieldingly against the lower side of the cam 43 by a spring 42.

It will be seen that if the operator turns the dial 4! the cam 40' will be rotated and the position of the lever 33 will be changed, and this in turn, through the action of the link 33, turns the disk 31 and also the shield 3111 whose normal position is thereby changed with respect to the nose of the pawl. The periphery or side of the dial is preferably graduated and these graduations function in connection with a pointer 43 mounted on 'the front of the frame It. These graduation's in number of characters to the inch.

the solenoid.

As the movement of the pawl is of necessity very rapid if rapid typing is to be done, it is important that suitable means be providedto pre vent the quick thrust,of the pawl from causing the ratchet wheel 36 and spirally grooved shaft 23 from overrunning and, on the other hand, to cause the ratchet wheel and shaft to always come to a definite stop at the end of the stroke of the pawl. This is accomplished in this instance by providing on the rear of the frame adjacent the ratchet wheel a plate 44 carrying a laterally pro- 'jecting stop'44a which extends over and close to the periphery of the ratchet wheel 36. The position of this stop is such that it engages the nose of the pawl to stop its upward stroke, and as the pawl rides under and comes in contact with the lower face of the stop 44a it is cammed inwardly so as to instantly stop the rotation of the ratchet wheel always at the same point and without the possibility of any overrun.

It is of course essential that the solenoid 28 be energized on the downward stroke of any key lever corresponding to a type bar and also on the downward stroke of the spacer bar, and I utilize the movement of the universal bar which accompanies such movement of a key lever or the spacer bar to accomplish this purpose by causing the universal bar to close the switch which energizes In this instance the switch is mounted on the rear of the main frame, and while, of course, this switch may be constructed in different ways, in this case I provide on a bracket 45 which is mounted on the frame an insulating block 46 carrying two contacts 41 which are normally disconnected but which are adapted to be bridged or connected together by a movable bridge member in the form of a flexible leaf spring 48 by the action of an actuator in the form of a flexible leaf spring 43 which is carried by the universal bar. rocker arm 20. As the universal bar moves rearwardly on the down stroke of the key lever or spacer bar, the actuator 43 engages and presses rearwardly the leaf spring 43 so as to connect the contacts 41 and thus complete the solenoid circuit, and upon the release of the key or spacer bar by the operator the universal bar is restored to its normal position by the customary spring which is connected thereto.

For the carriage return the spirally grooved shaft 23 is given a continuous rotation in the reverse direction. This notation for the carriage return :can be imparted by any suitable mechanism such as by an electric motor controlled by a key of the keyboard and geared to the end of the shaft opposite that which carries the mechanism for imparting the step-by-step movements,

or this rotary movement maybe imparted by mechanical means adapted to be actuated by a suitable lever or equivalent actuator at the front of the machine at or adjacent the keyboard. Inasmuch as the specific type of shaft rotating mechanism is not material to the present invention, the last mentioned arrangement is herein shown somewhat conventionally in Fig. 3. It includes a pinion BI mounted on the reduced end of the shaft 23 which projects from the end of the machine opposite that which is provided with the solenoid and the mechanism. associated with it, a gear segment 5i which engages the pinion and is secured-to a pin 52 journaled in a plate or bracket 53 secured to the left-hand end of the frame I! and a lever 54 which also is secured to the pin 52 and preferably projects forwardly alongside the keyboard where it can be conveniently operated by the operator. The pinion 53 may be connected to the end of shaft 23 by a one-way clutch. in which event it will not rotate when the carriage is being given its stepby-step movement toward the left and during such movement the segment and the lever will remain stationary. Then for the carriage return the operator has simply to first elevate the lever during which time the pinion 50 will run loosely on the shaft 23 and then depress the lever. During this movement and consequent rotation of the pinion 50 the clutch will be effective to rotate the shaft 23 and return thecarrlage. If desired, the pinion 50 may be secured to the end'of shaft 23 in which case the lever 54 will be gradually elevated as the carriage moves step-by-step toward the left and the operator has thensimply to depress the lever so as to rotate the shaft 23 for the carriage return.

The mechanism here shown for moving the carriage both for letter and word spacing and for the carriage return does not prevent the operators moving the carriage in either direction righthand margin and the extent that each line is to be lengthened or shortened. The operator will then for each line which is to be lengthened or shortened adjust the dial 4| to a position such that the necessary shortening or lengthening'will .be obtained in typing a predetermined part of the line. after which the operator will restore the dial to the position which gives normal character spacing, it being remembered that by varying the position of the dial so as to give the pawl a longer or a shorter effective stroke. the spacing is in-' creased or decreased, as the case may be. However, the variation in the character spacing from normal, whether increased or decreased, is so slight that it is not discernible from the normal spacing so that the righthand margin is justifled without in any way detracting from the appearance of the typewritten page and therefore from the subsequent printed page produced in an offset 10 press wherein there is employed a zinc plate which is etched through the negative of a photograph of the typewritten page.

a While I have shown and described one embodiment only of my invention, I do not desire to be 4 confined to the specinc mechanisms hereshown for imparting the step-by-step movement to the carriage for character or word spacing, for varying the extent o1 movement of the spirally grooved shaft or equivalent member which may ing an operating member connected with the car- .rotary movement to said first riage and adapted to be given step-by-step movements, an actuating member connected with the operating member and adapted to move through a given path of movement for each step-by-step movement of the carriage operating member, and means for changing the effective part of said path of movement.

2. In a typewriter, a frame, a keyboard, a transversely movable carrla e, and means for giving the carriage variable 'step-by-step movements for character spacing, said means including a step-by-step rotatable member connected with the carriage, means adapted to be given a fixed stroke of movement for imparting each member, and means for rendering a variable part of said stroke of movement ineifective.

3. In a typewriter, a frame,,a keyboard, a transversely movable carriage, and means for. giving the carriage variable step-by-step moveing step-by-step rotary movements to said member, means for giving the pawl a fixed stroke with reference to the ratchet, and means whereby variable portions of said fixed stroke only are rendered effective.

4. In a typewriter having a frame, a keyboard with key levers, type bars associated with the key levers, a universal bar mounted for actuation by any of said type bars, and a transversely movable carriage, means controlled by the actuation of the universal bar for giving the carriage stepby-step movements for character spacing, said means including a motor and an intermittently movable rotary member operatively connected to the motor and to the carriage, and means for at will varying the extent of the intermittent movements of said rotary member whereby the space between the characters of a predetermined portion of a line may be varied with respect to the characters in another portion of the line.

5. In a typewriter having a frame, a keyboard with key levers, type bars associated with the key levers, a spacer bar, a universal bar adapted to be moved by any ofsaid type bars and by the spacer bar, and a transversely movable carriage, means controlled by the movement of the universalbar for giving the carriage step-by-step movements for character and word spacing, said means including a motor and an intermittently movable rotary member operatively connected to the motor and to the carriage, and means for at will varying the extent of the intermittent movements of said rotary member whereby the space between the characters and between the words of a predetermined portion of a line may be varied with respect to the space between the characters andbetween the words of another portion of the ments for character spacing, said means includline. 1

ing a rotatable member connected with the carriage, a pawl and ratchet mechanism for impart- I KELIL'Y D. EVANS.

DISCLAIMER 2,142,561. Kelley' D. Evans,

- uary 3, 1939. Disclaimer Hamilton, Ohio. Trrnwnn'nn. Patent dated Jan filed January 2, 1942, by the inventor and the assignee of one-half interest, 0. E. Heaven.

Hereby enter thisdisclaimer to claims 1,

[Qficial Gazette January 27, 1.942.]

2, and 3 of said patent. 

